All Replies on Imprinting a photo on wood

5 replies so far

I’ve done it before. Print a mirrored photo with an laser printer on glossy photo paper. Spread a good coat of artist’s gel medium on the wood and press the paper face down in the medium. It needs to make good contact with the wood. Let it dry and then rub the paper off with a wet rag. It can be a hit and a miss though so do a bunch and keep the good ones. The ones I did were on a 2×6 straight from HD. So not finish smooth but not rough cut either. Image came out sharp. That has more to do with the quality of your print job than anything else.

Steve Ramsey – woodworking for mere mortals – did a video awhile ago where he does it exactly that way.

- JohnDi

Steve Ramsey has done it this way too.

I’ve done this with some smaller images with an inkjet printer. Pretty sure this method would only work with inkjet. Not really sure how well a detailed photo works. Go to your office supply store and but some inkjet printer labels; size doesn’t matter. Pull all of the labels off of the backing. This is the “paper” that you will print the image on. Insert it into the printer so that the printer will print on the shiny side; the side the labels were stuck too. Print your image rotating or flipping as needed or desired. The label paper keeps the ink from drying or absorbing into the paper. The tricky part is if you need to line it up somehow, but other than that just press the paper onto the wood being careful not to let it slip or move. Press it on so that I makes good contact all around. Pull the paper up and there it is. Let it dry for a minute or two, doesn’t take long since the ink will absorb into the wood. Spray it with some lacquer or something to seal it up.

Hmmm… JADobson’s method is exactly what I’d seen before and seems pretty straight forward. I am planning on trying to apply the photo to a cedar roof shingle. They are pretty smooth, but I may sand it a bit first in order to get it really smooth.

One thing that I had seen in a video was applying the gel medium over the whole thing to “seal” it after the photo is wiped away which seems like a good idea, but I do also like the idea of a spray lacquer just in case the liquid and the brush would disturb the image at all.